> This may be so, but it still leaves unexplained the fact that cooking
> meat caught on and became universally practiced among humans.  Why do
> you suppose this happened?
>
> Todd Moody


Any hunters in the group?  It's one thing to slice a piece of raw,
refrigerated, sanitized beef and eat it.  Now try killing a deer, or pig, or
cow in the wild.  Make sure you let the body cool before you clean it.
Otherwise, the fleas and ticks that infest the animal will jump all over
you.

I doubt our hunter-gather ancestors neatly cut their kills into steaks and
chops.  And if I'm going to chaw on a haunch of pig, holding it over the
fire for a little bit seems the sensible thing to do.

Robert